At Navbharat Sahitya Mandir’s stall, Chief Minister Narendra Modi picked up Rashmi Bansal’s Gujarati (translated) title ‘Khabhe kothlo ne desh moklo’. This book is about IIM-Ahmedabad entrepreneurs

Ahmedabad, 1 May 2012

Chief Minister Narendra Modi today described Gujarati people’s quest for knowledge as convergence of their veneration for Goddess of Learning ‘Saraswati’ and Goddess of Money ‘Lakshmi’.

Inaugurating Ahmedabad’s National Book Fair under on the Sabarmati Riverfront here in presence of a galaxy of literary glitterati on the occasion of Gujarat’s 52nd Foundation Day, he said that campaigns like ‘Vanche Gujarat’ for inculcating a habit of reading has created hunger for more knowledge among the six-crore Gujaratis. Book fairs quench that thirst. They serve as confluence of culture, customs and civility with a flair for literature. They establish a link between the litterateurs and readers.

Greeting people on the 52nd Foundation Day of the State, Mr. Modi said that people of Gujarat now feel proud that the state has established its identity in the world over the last ten years, irrespective of whether one likes the state’s going global or not.

Mr. Modi said that every house should have a ‘temple’ stacked with books. Culture flows in a family that reads books. He said that books are like seeds that grow into trees of ideas, bloom as flowers of imagination and as fruits of hope.

Mr. Modi spent about 30 minutes going round the stalls set up by about 200 state, national and international level publishers at the weeklong fair jointly organized by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and National Book Trust.

He released a book on ‘Architectural Heritage of Gujarat’ published by Gujarat Government’s Information Department.

Amedabad Mayor Asit Vora, welcoming the guests, said the seeds of this national book fair being held for the first time in the city were sown by the Chief Minister’s ‘Vanche Gujarat’ campaign.

National Book Trust Chairman M. A. Sikander expressed satisfaction at staging this book fair in Ahmedabad.

Those present on the occasion included Ministers of State Pradipsinh Jadeja and Ranjitbhai Gilitwala, MP Dr Kirit Solanki, MLAs of Ahmedabad, Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited Chairman Kamlesh Patel and officers of the municipal corporation.

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